Rich physical details, lush sensual descriptions of people and places...Byatt's engaging message is that art, curiosity and stories and save us. Now read on
- Michèle Roberts, Independent on Sunday
Byatt weaves myth and art into bewitching fables...an astonishing display of imagination. The whole collection has a kaleidoscopic beauty
- Mark Sanderson, Time Out
Drenched in colour, spangled with optical effects, the yarns and parables in <i>Elementals</i> pay rapt attention to a world of light
- Boyd Tonkin, Independent
"Cold", the story at the centre of <i>Elementals </i>is entirely fabulous...Its tenor is voluptuous and melancholy, like that of Oscar Wilde's fairy stories, with some of the erotic edge of Angela Carter's...These stories are full of colour and light
- Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Sunday Times
In a sparkling year for short stories, A.S. Byatt takes all the prizes...A wonderful series of reflections on the harsh realities of life (loneliness, death and betrayal) overlaid with a goassamer-light cloak of passion, mystery and ancient magic
- Carolyn Hart, Marie Claire